Guys, don't overreact, it was a friendly. There isn't much point in winning all friendlies 8-0 is there? They are there to experiment and try out different things, like a three man defence or players in new positions. Ok, even I sometimes (including today) think that Pep goes a bit over the top, but he himself described Germany as Konterland, so I think its nigh on impossible that he'll play such a defence in the Buli, especially against a team like Gladbach.

Having said that, yes, today was disappointing. Neuer, Dante, Boateng, Alaba, Kroos, Thiago, Gotze and Muller can all be considered to some extent as regular starters, and for me only Neuer and Gotze showed what they are capable of (although Muller did lay on a chance for Shaqiri which the latter wasted). Dante is starting to worry me with his tendency to give away penalties (Dortmund, City and now this). I think that the defensive line may sometimes miss the stability and confidence Lahm used to bring to it. perhaps playing just a couple of matches back at right back might help rally the defence. Not that we are (with the exception of today) a bad defence, but an improvement is always an improvement. This match has also shown us that we will struggle without Ribery and/or Gotze (who set up a good chance for Muller in the first half), they are our main creators.

But at the end of the day, we've lost not a jot. No points, no trophy chances have gone down the drain.

I think nobody mentioned the 'penalty' saved by Neuer. It was a wrong call by the ref...One more think is Shaqiri; I am not seeing him comfortable if you know what I mean. I have a feeling that he'll not stay be staying much longer with us...

ramsej84 wrote:I think nobody mentioned the 'penalty' saved by Neuer. It was a wrong call by the ref...One more think is Shaqiri; I am not seeing him comfortable if you know what I mean. I have a feeling that he'll not stay be staying much longer with us...

I'd say it's likely he'll leave next summer. It's only logical for him, and I wouldn't be sad about it - he deserves to play more.

Hopefully things will change during the second half of the season and he will get enough playing time to convince him to stay.

ramsej84 wrote:I think nobody mentioned the 'penalty' saved by Neuer. It was a wrong call by the ref...One more think is Shaqiri; I am not seeing him comfortable if you know what I mean. I have a feeling that he'll not stay be staying much longer with us...

Agreed about the wrong call on the second penalty. The foul was outside of the box, but at least we got to see Neuer saving a penalty

Regarding Shaqiri, yesterday was one of his worst matches for FC Bayern, in my opinion. He shied off the one-on-ones and when facing a defender turned round and passed backwards rather than try to dribble him. It was frustrating because he was slowing down the attacks, which meant that in order to speed things up again, players ended up crossing to Mandzukic and whoever else happened to be attacking.

I think we need to reconsider what Pep claimed about Mandzukic being the best attacker in the air. It seems he's beaten almost all of the time. Perhaps if he's inside the small box he can try to head it in, but when he's further away, like outside of the box or just inside the box, it's pretty much useless crossing to his head because he's unable to tame the ball or head it towards another player (not that he had much support yesterday).

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